Incident Command SystemAwareness

1
Exercises
2
Adult Learning

• changing previously learned behaviors can be
  difficult.
• people learn new material in a variety of ways
• For many people, reading is that gate, or medium,
  in which the maximum amount of learning is
  assimilated.
• Lectures and visual images work well for a large
  segment of the population.
• Individuals who are tactually attuned may benefit
  most from a working, participatory

3
Adult Learning

• be aware that the entire hospital staff is
  comprised of individuals who, consciously or
  unconsciously, have a preferred style of
  learning.
• It is important that your educational strategy
  include a variety approaches to encompass the
  total learning process.
•  have in mind the target interests of each group.

4
Adult Learning

• Administrative personnel will ask two questions
  which are appropriate
• What are the advantages in converting to the
  HEICS plan?
• What costs are projected for the conversion from
  the current disaster plan to the HEICS?

5
Adult Learning

• Advantages
• Built in accountability/Chain of command
• Information Flow
• Documentation/Financial recovery
• Standardization!!! 
• Costs
• Training
• Rewriting plan
• Vests
• Disaster Patient Records
• Clipboards/Bins
• Establishment of Disaster Account-
  prefixes/suffixes

6
Staff Table Top Exercise

• The HEICS Table Top Exercise is a paper drill
• intended to demonstrate the working and
  communication relationships of functions
• intended primarily for the administrators,
  managers, and personnel who could conceivably be
  placed into an officer's position upon activation
  of the disaster plan.
• takes 2 2 ½ hours to complete

7
Full-Functional Exercise

• may be tested when the facility conducts a
  general disaster exercise.
• involves activation and simulated activity of all
  sections of the Incident Command System.
• Other medical facilities have received a highly
  positive response from employees who have been
  involved in their first, fully functional
  exercise of the HEICS.

8
5 Components of Drills

• Objectives
• Critique
• Evaluation Report
• Follow-up Actions
• Future Exercises

9
Continuing Staff Education

• intended to meet licensing/accreditation
  standards
• keeps all hospital responders committed to
  disaster preparedness and proficient in emergency
  operating procedures
• The expertise of top management regarding HEICS
  is a priority
• The leadership team composed of managers who
  could potentially fill the of roles of Incident
  Commander, Administrative officers, and section
  chiefs must be always ready and always aware of
  how the facility's disaster plan works
• Educational offerings may be centered on paper or
  functional exercises
• introduction of new disaster-related topics and
  review of the basic plan
• Home and family emergency preparedness should
  always be stressed at each educational session.
• Smaller educational sessions may be held within
  department inservices or as part of a
  facility-wide safety program.  

10
Summary

• In the end, it is people who are truly the most
  important element of any emergency plan.
• There is no Job Action Sheet or form or Action
  Plan that can substitute for the well-trained
  employee, including the Medical Staff.
• Training and exercise of the disaster plan builds
  the confidence of the entire staff.
• Honest critiquing will illuminate those areas
  that are in need of further revision or
  retraining.
• Those officers with a working knowledge of the
  facility disaster plan will be better able to
  exercise a command and control presence over
  those areas assigned to their care.

11
Summary

• Drill
• Drill
• Drill